As a partner in the London Public Library's One Book, One London reading program, FIMS presents a panel on One Book, Many Communities. Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper was selected for the inaugural One Book, One London program, and is an example of mass reading events that occur around the world. Panelists will discuss their research and professional experiences with reading initiatives that encourage people throughout communities to come together by reading, discussing and participating in events related to a common book.

Please join us for this public event on Thursday, September 21st in the FIMS Graduate Library (FNB 3020). The panel will be followed by a short reception.

Panelists:

DeNel Rehberg Sedo is a Professor at Mount St. Vincent in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her interests and scholarly training are rooted in the social contexts of reading and women’s reading practices, shared reading and learning communities in particular. What people do with books (in their various forms) and with what they read, is the question at the heart of her research. She is a co-author of Reading Beyond the Book: The Social Practices of Contemporary Literary Culture, the result of a five-year international project that investigated Mass Reading Events in 11 different locations.

Catherine Ross is Professor Emerita and former Dean of the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. She has a longstanding interest in leisure reading, exploring topics that include factors that foster or discourage reading, how readers choose a book, the role of reading, rereading and social reading. Along with publishing scholarly articles and books on readers' advisory, her new co-authored book Reading Still Matters: What the Research Reveals about Reading, Libraries, and Community is forthcoming this year.

Sharron Louise Smith, formerly the Manager of Bibliographic Services at the Kitchener Public Library, has more than 20 years experience in the area of readers’ advisory through her role as Manager of Readers’ Advisory Services at Kitchener Public Library; she currently teaches Readers’ Advisory in the Public Library at FIMS. She has conducted readers’ advisory programs and training both in Canada and internationally. She is the co-author of Canadian Fiction: a guide to reading interests.

Panel discussion in collaboration with the FIMS Graduate Library, Western Libraries, and the London Public Library.